Using corals to fight cancer.
- Thread starter ritter6788
- Start date
After the 1st world war the biological effects observed with the mustard gas gave to scientists the idea to use nitrogenated mustard against the cancer...
That was one of the first modern medicine against cancer.
Nowadays the bioactive compounds in corals, algae, rule over the basic knowledgement in this field (marine research).
If you go to google the 90% of the information about corals and so is concerned to bioactive compounds.
Money is money... and bioactive compounds rule over other basic knowledgements about corals and the sea.
That was one of the first modern medicine against cancer.
Nowadays the bioactive compounds in corals, algae, rule over the basic knowledgement in this field (marine research).
If you go to google the 90% of the information about corals and so is concerned to bioactive compounds.
Money is money... and bioactive compounds rule over other basic knowledgements about corals and the sea.
Hawkdl2
Mad Scientist
Exploiting fluorescent proteins from marine life as tools for monitoring gene expression or as protein labels has never relied on the wholesale harvesting of marine organisms. For all current applications we use the gene that codes for green fluorescent proteins (GFP), originally isolated from a jelly fish. Those applications that use the protein directly get it by harvesting bacterial cultures that have been engineered with the same gene to express the protein. While GFP is by far the most common of the available fluorescent proteins, there is also blue, yellow and red, though my lab has never worked with the blue version.
Isolating oncolytic small molecules form sea life is a different matter. Unlike proteins, the biosynthesis of a small molecules in an organism usually requires a number of cellular enzyme, co-factors an substrates that are very hard to replicate in the lab so if a small molecule from a sea creature looks interesting, it means researchers have to either develop a complex chemical synthesis method or harvest a whole lot of sea creature.
What makes synthesis really hard is most of the molecules from biological organism we have seen that show promise as anti-cancer agents are so complex that they are virtually impossible to synthesis from scratch.
This was the problem with Taxol, originally isolated from the Yew tree. Only once scientist were able figured out the sub-component of this very large complex chemical agent were labs able to synthesize a much smaller molecule with equivalent activity - and avoid the wholesale harvesting of the Yew tree.
It can also be very difficult to figure out which molecule from an organism is the one that has the desired activity. Investigators at our institute have been working on an extract from grape seeds that has activity in breast cancer cell culture models. It's been 10 years and we still don't know which molecule is responsible - it is very like it involves a combination of molecules. We have other labs working on an extract from a seq squirt. In that case they know the molecule, but there is no way to synthesize it. It's a common theme.
Just so you know, unlike the Yew tree experience, no one is suggesting the harvest of whole reefs to get these molecules.
Interestingly, we also have a lab working with a group off Madagascar where some unique zooplakton that is readily harvested by fishermen seems to have some cancer benefit.
Isolating oncolytic small molecules form sea life is a different matter. Unlike proteins, the biosynthesis of a small molecules in an organism usually requires a number of cellular enzyme, co-factors an substrates that are very hard to replicate in the lab so if a small molecule from a sea creature looks interesting, it means researchers have to either develop a complex chemical synthesis method or harvest a whole lot of sea creature.
What makes synthesis really hard is most of the molecules from biological organism we have seen that show promise as anti-cancer agents are so complex that they are virtually impossible to synthesis from scratch.
This was the problem with Taxol, originally isolated from the Yew tree. Only once scientist were able figured out the sub-component of this very large complex chemical agent were labs able to synthesize a much smaller molecule with equivalent activity - and avoid the wholesale harvesting of the Yew tree.
It can also be very difficult to figure out which molecule from an organism is the one that has the desired activity. Investigators at our institute have been working on an extract from grape seeds that has activity in breast cancer cell culture models. It's been 10 years and we still don't know which molecule is responsible - it is very like it involves a combination of molecules. We have other labs working on an extract from a seq squirt. In that case they know the molecule, but there is no way to synthesize it. It's a common theme.
Just so you know, unlike the Yew tree experience, no one is suggesting the harvest of whole reefs to get these molecules.
Interestingly, we also have a lab working with a group off Madagascar where some unique zooplakton that is readily harvested by fishermen seems to have some cancer benefit.
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